The invention relates generally to liners for pickup trucks, cargo vehicles and the like and more particularly to a liner having a cargo supporting surface with enhanced frictional characteristics.
Liners for motor vehicles, particularly bed liners for pickup trucks and other cargo carrying vehicles provide many benefits when used in conjunction with conventional metal pickup truck and cargo vehicle beds.
Firstly, bed liners provide a resilient barrier between the cargo area and the actual truck bed which absorbs energy and reduces denting and damage to the bed liner when heavy loads are placed in the vehicle bed. Such protection extends not only to dents and dings but also to superficial damage such as scratches and abrasion of the paint.
Second, since the bed liner also resides between ambient conditions and the truck bed and provides a generally impervious barrier therebetween, it protects it from water, salt and other possibly more corrosive material which may be carried in and damage the truck bed.
Additionally should such a bed liner become damaged, it may readily be replaced at a cost small relative to the cost of new metal truck bed.
A final benefit conferred upon such vehicles by bed liners is the increased value at resale. A truck having a bed protected by a bed liner throughout its life returns a significantly higher percentage of its original cost to the owner than do trucks without such protection.
Such bed liners are typically fabricated of rugged and durable material which includes a relatively smooth upper surface which may exhibit a relatively low coefficient of friction. In such instances, cargo placed on such a bed liner may move about somewhat more readily than is desirable. Many solutions to this situation have been offered. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,876 a plurality of vertical channels formed in the liner sidewalls are adapted to receive cross members which secure loads against longitudinal movement. U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,947 also discloses a bed liner having a plurality of vertically foreshortened ribs and channels which also receive cargo restraining members. Both of these approaches require additional components to secure the load and neither provides significant transverse cargo restraint.
Another approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,648,031 to Sturtevant and Cullivan. In this patent, the horizontal surface of the bed liner is sprayed with a friction enhancing material which provides a surface with an increased coefficient of friction and a bed liner which provides this feature without ancillary components.
The foregoing review of certain prior art patents reveals that improvements in the art of bed liners having friction enhanced surfaces are both possible and desirable.